Pressure washer won’t stay on

[NoobCali]

Hello everyone.

I recently bought a cheap electronic pressure washer It’s a Westinghouse epx3500 a 2500 psi 1.76gpm electric power washer.

The thing won’t stay on period, unless I specifically hold down the trigger and keep my hand on the ON button. I’m just wondering why this could be? I’ve seen people use this online with no issue for light duty. Never used it only got it about a day ago btw.

What I did…

Took it out of box put it together
Plugged in high pressure hose into the washer
Plugged garden hose into washer
Turned on water
Plugged in washer and turned it on and it immediately turned itself off and it made this noise and sort of jerked the high pressure hose (did not trip gfci its still getting power)
Held down trigger and turned it on, did the same thing
Held down trigger and held down power button and it worked ? But seeing as I can’t walk around holding down the power button while washing my car that was a bust. Not sure what’s going on with it maybe defective maybe something obvious I’m missing?

 

[Engineer_Usama]

I purchased on sept4,2023.it worked well for about a month and half and then power switch started acting up and I started calling and calling also had a few hang ups! I extremely disappointed .

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

At first before powering up, did you purge the garden hose? Did you let the water run until water came out of the wand? If not, possibly it seized up a bit and did damage. Doubtful it happened. These small electrics do have a pressure switch so when you stop spraying with the wand the motor shuts off.

Check the garden hose end screen for debris. If there isn't one, number one reason debris get inside the machine is sand or dirt gets in the hose by being dropped to the ground. If you do not keep a nozzle on the hose, anything small will crawl inside if it. One time I fail to purge the hose and a plugged up the garden hose screen.

Run the washer with the pressure hose removed, if it cycles it is a bad unit, if it does not check the wand nozzle for debris. Reattach the pressure hose and remove the wand from the pressure hose (if possible) and run the machine. If it runs check the wand for debris.

 

[NoobCali]

When you say run it with pressure hose removed do I still have to have a garden hose in the unit or just run it dry? Sorry about the confusion

 

[NoobCali]

At first before powering up, did you purge the garden hose? Did you let the water run until water came out of the wand? If not, possibly it seized up a bit and did damage. Doubtful it happened. These small electrics do have a pressure switch so when you stop spraying with the wand the motor shuts off.

Check the garden hose end screen for debris. If there isn't one, number one reason debris get inside the machine is sand or dirt gets in the hose by being dropped to the ground. If you do not keep a nozzle on the hose, anything small will crawl inside if it. One time I fail to purge the hose and a plugged up the garden hose screen.

Run the washer with the pressure hose removed, if it cycles it is a bad unit, if it does not check the wand nozzle for debris. Reattach the pressure hose and remove the wand from the pressure hose (if possible) and run the machine. If it runs check the wand for debris.

For the garden hose there’s no screen but the hose is brand new first time using it. I’ll check the screen make sure it’s clear regardless to troubleshoot

 

[WorthFlorida]

When you say run it with pressure hose removed do I still have to have a garden hose in the unit or just run it dry? Sorry about the confusion

Always run the washer with running water, otherwise you do damage very fast. Without the wand connected, you'll be in low pressure mode, there is a bypass valve without any back pressure. Once there is enough back pressure the valve moves. You'll hear the difference. If the wand has multiple settings or snap on tips, one will be low pressure. It's its nozzle will be round.

 

[NoobCali]

Always run the washer with running water, otherwise you do damage very fast. Without the wand connected, you'll be in low pressure mode, there is a bypass valve without any back pressure. Once there is enough back pressure the valve moves. You'll hear the difference. If the wand has multiple settings or snap on tips, one will be low pressure. It's its nozzle will be round.

I did this and it wouldn’t stay on unless I held the button down, without the nozzle, without the wand, then without high pressure hose. I think I’ll return it see if I can get another

This one was 2300 psi not 2500psi but does that really matter too much if it’s only 1.76gpm and on a 110v 15amp? Basically will I regret not getting the 2500 if I get the 2300 again